Tell me about the women in your world!
- Thread starter LostSoul
- Start date
Tinker Gnome
Adventurer
They are considered equal and there is no reaction if a women rules a kingdom as opposed to a man.
shilsen
Adventurer
Generally equal, though the lower the level of civilization the worse their treatment is. For example, a woman in a cosmopolitan human/elven/dwarven society will be treated as equal to a man and is a lot better off than an ogre woman is. Yes, I admit, human societies tend to be intelligent when it comes to gender relations in my game. What can I say? It's fantasy 
ivocaliban
Explorer
An interesting question. I tend to throw out most of the historical facts when dealing with this issue simply because it makes for a rather dreary game. In my campaign men and women are more or less equal; at least in terms of the adventurers. Even so, there exists the overall predjudice that women are somehow the weaker sex. Whether it's a matter of the male ego or a scientific analysis of the sexes, the predjucides remain. Most of my females are ones who have proved themselves in the male-dominated world. They are generally exceptions to the rule. Here are two examples:
Brynn Wensleydale: A human Fighter/Ranger (LG) of the Yeomanry, brought up by her stern, military father and three rough-and-tumble brothers. More or less ignored by her father, being both female and the youngest child, Brynn learned early on that if she wanted her father's approval she would have to fight for it...literally. So she joined the Yeomanry's military force and trained for many years. In time she became a skilled warrior, but her fellow soldiers found her other developments more distracting. It also didn't help their egos that she was in many ways superior to the average soldier.
During a fierce campaign against the giants of the Crystalmist Mountains she failed to save her captain, a man whom she admired and had come to love, from a killing blow and barely managed to survive the remainder of the assualt. Feeling as if she had failed herself, her captain, her country, and her father, Brynn left the Yeomanry and became a mercenary. She eventually found herself employed in Furyondy in fighting Iuz. There she learned the ways of surviving such an inhospitable land and honed her skill hunting orcs. She eventually joined the Furyondian army and was recently promoted to the rank of captain.
Aja Marula: Aja is one of my favourite NPCs in my current campaign. Perhaps because she's the first female I created using the 3.0 rules. She's a tiefling Bard (CN) and now married to the lead PC (who happens to be an aasimar). She's a cunning, crafty, sometimes devious individual who has had more affect on the campaign than any other character. She despises intrigue and political manueverings, but that doesn't stop her from using them when necessary. What makes her so disturbing (and equally interesting) is that she will essentially do what needs to be done to accomplish what needs to be accomplished. She certainly has an ends-justify-the-means mindset, but at the same time she's probably the most morally conscious character in my game. Definitely a Chaotic Neutral character.
She has an uncanny knack to size people up and know exactly what to say (or what not to say) to have them react appropriately. What is appropriate, of course, depends on the circumstances. Despite the fact that she's a Bard, she's generally very quiet and subdued. Performing is exactly that...a performance, not something that brings her particular joy; though none but a few know this because she's quite convincing when she does take the stage. She prefers action over talk, substance over style...not what one generally thinks of in a Bard. Still, she knows her limitations (she's small, physically weak, and considered by most to be at best the offspring of a demon) and her strengths (she's inobtrusive, charismatic, and incredibly talented), and will always put those first, despite her preferences.
Brynn Wensleydale: A human Fighter/Ranger (LG) of the Yeomanry, brought up by her stern, military father and three rough-and-tumble brothers. More or less ignored by her father, being both female and the youngest child, Brynn learned early on that if she wanted her father's approval she would have to fight for it...literally. So she joined the Yeomanry's military force and trained for many years. In time she became a skilled warrior, but her fellow soldiers found her other developments more distracting. It also didn't help their egos that she was in many ways superior to the average soldier.
During a fierce campaign against the giants of the Crystalmist Mountains she failed to save her captain, a man whom she admired and had come to love, from a killing blow and barely managed to survive the remainder of the assualt. Feeling as if she had failed herself, her captain, her country, and her father, Brynn left the Yeomanry and became a mercenary. She eventually found herself employed in Furyondy in fighting Iuz. There she learned the ways of surviving such an inhospitable land and honed her skill hunting orcs. She eventually joined the Furyondian army and was recently promoted to the rank of captain.
Aja Marula: Aja is one of my favourite NPCs in my current campaign. Perhaps because she's the first female I created using the 3.0 rules. She's a tiefling Bard (CN) and now married to the lead PC (who happens to be an aasimar). She's a cunning, crafty, sometimes devious individual who has had more affect on the campaign than any other character. She despises intrigue and political manueverings, but that doesn't stop her from using them when necessary. What makes her so disturbing (and equally interesting) is that she will essentially do what needs to be done to accomplish what needs to be accomplished. She certainly has an ends-justify-the-means mindset, but at the same time she's probably the most morally conscious character in my game. Definitely a Chaotic Neutral character.
She has an uncanny knack to size people up and know exactly what to say (or what not to say) to have them react appropriately. What is appropriate, of course, depends on the circumstances. Despite the fact that she's a Bard, she's generally very quiet and subdued. Performing is exactly that...a performance, not something that brings her particular joy; though none but a few know this because she's quite convincing when she does take the stage. She prefers action over talk, substance over style...not what one generally thinks of in a Bard. Still, she knows her limitations (she's small, physically weak, and considered by most to be at best the offspring of a demon) and her strengths (she's inobtrusive, charismatic, and incredibly talented), and will always put those first, despite her preferences.
Cunning and skill with a blade will get you far IMC, and there are many women with such skill. In fact one of the most powerful warriors is a barbarian woman, her skill with the blade is unmatched and her power restricted only by her lack of ambition.
position IMC is determined more by birth and skill then gender, but as a general rule women start out lower on the scale then men.
position IMC is determined more by birth and skill then gender, but as a general rule women start out lower on the scale then men.
Psion
Adventurer
As in other venues, I don't assume that fantasy societies are by and large much more egalatarian than real societies. Turanian and kennan societies have the most stringent gender roles, with few females accepted in positions of authority. Aborian is somewhat more gender equal, with a major heroic figure in their past being a woman, women are more accepted as leaders and adventurers. The Materans are an offshoot of the kennan society that is a bit more like the classical amazon matriarchal society.
They do tend to be well represented as sorceresses and wizards in society, those arts being considered somewhat more "genteel" than swordplay.
A significant figure was Corinna, often known merely as The Prophetess. She was a young underpreistess of the moon goddess with unprecedented abilities to foretell the future and interperet the meaning of ancient texts. Corinna advised a significant party of NPCs in events that would become legendary.
The most famed female NPC in my game is Queen Ariel, a high level monk/wizard. She was born over 1000 years before game time, in a distant land. When the chaos wars broke out on that acient homeland, she led the people to the current campaign continent, Trinalia. She departed after that, promising to return one day when that need was great.
During the intervening centuries, she became a sleeping immortal, learning though living dreams, while slowing her aging. She sought the secret of true immortality so she could bring her prowess to aid her people forevermore.
She returned later when a demigod shattered gates that held in check ancient evil, and led a party of adventurers to depose him. She sought the secrets of immortality, and again returned to face the avatar of the dark god Idan and pursued him through a gate, and was rumored dead or ascended.
When the emperor of the malign Empire of Drakar took possession of the Kingsword (and artifact that supposedly could only be wielded by the blood of the family foretold as destined to rule the Aborian people), all aid of lawful religious orders to the war with Drakar was withdrawn, leading to a bleak state of affairs indeed. A party of adventurers quested to find Queen Ariel by pursuing the path, with clues given by The Prophetess.
Following Ariel's tracks to a far off land and following false leads she once had followed, the party had eventually learned that Queen Ariel had becone a Ti Hsien immortal, which granted her immortality of such a nature that, if slain, she would be reborn as an infant elsewhere in the world, only to learn of her true nature upon her maturing to womanhood. She would, however, be an extraordinary youth with amazing talents...
Yup, Ariel was the prophetess, the young girl that had been advising them for 10 or so levels. (The reaction of the players when they learned that was priceless.) Only upon the party informing her did she learn her true nature.
Of course, the upshot of this was that Ariel no longer had the blood of her father in her. Another person with Royal Blood had to be found to unseat the Emperor. The would be replacement for the Emperor was his younger sister, Shaleen, who had been exiled for rebelling when she learned that her grandfather, the dark god Idan, planned to sacrifice literally MILLIONS of people to shift a city into another plane that would leave millions of evil outsiders under his control. The party rescued Shaleen, who had become a pirate queen in her time in exile, and helped place her on the throne after ousting the emperor.
She now sits on the throne. She is neutral and hedonistic, but not wicked in the same way her brother was. She sits at the head of an Empire that is largely still loyal to a warlike god that has been outlawed, but has the loyalty to several foreign Churches.
That was where my campaign sat before I started to move things towards the river of worlds. I had hoped the setup would be ripe for political intrigue.
They do tend to be well represented as sorceresses and wizards in society, those arts being considered somewhat more "genteel" than swordplay.
A significant figure was Corinna, often known merely as The Prophetess. She was a young underpreistess of the moon goddess with unprecedented abilities to foretell the future and interperet the meaning of ancient texts. Corinna advised a significant party of NPCs in events that would become legendary.
The most famed female NPC in my game is Queen Ariel, a high level monk/wizard. She was born over 1000 years before game time, in a distant land. When the chaos wars broke out on that acient homeland, she led the people to the current campaign continent, Trinalia. She departed after that, promising to return one day when that need was great.
During the intervening centuries, she became a sleeping immortal, learning though living dreams, while slowing her aging. She sought the secret of true immortality so she could bring her prowess to aid her people forevermore.
She returned later when a demigod shattered gates that held in check ancient evil, and led a party of adventurers to depose him. She sought the secrets of immortality, and again returned to face the avatar of the dark god Idan and pursued him through a gate, and was rumored dead or ascended.
When the emperor of the malign Empire of Drakar took possession of the Kingsword (and artifact that supposedly could only be wielded by the blood of the family foretold as destined to rule the Aborian people), all aid of lawful religious orders to the war with Drakar was withdrawn, leading to a bleak state of affairs indeed. A party of adventurers quested to find Queen Ariel by pursuing the path, with clues given by The Prophetess.
Following Ariel's tracks to a far off land and following false leads she once had followed, the party had eventually learned that Queen Ariel had becone a Ti Hsien immortal, which granted her immortality of such a nature that, if slain, she would be reborn as an infant elsewhere in the world, only to learn of her true nature upon her maturing to womanhood. She would, however, be an extraordinary youth with amazing talents...
Yup, Ariel was the prophetess, the young girl that had been advising them for 10 or so levels. (The reaction of the players when they learned that was priceless.) Only upon the party informing her did she learn her true nature.
Of course, the upshot of this was that Ariel no longer had the blood of her father in her. Another person with Royal Blood had to be found to unseat the Emperor. The would be replacement for the Emperor was his younger sister, Shaleen, who had been exiled for rebelling when she learned that her grandfather, the dark god Idan, planned to sacrifice literally MILLIONS of people to shift a city into another plane that would leave millions of evil outsiders under his control. The party rescued Shaleen, who had become a pirate queen in her time in exile, and helped place her on the throne after ousting the emperor.
She now sits on the throne. She is neutral and hedonistic, but not wicked in the same way her brother was. She sits at the head of an Empire that is largely still loyal to a warlike god that has been outlawed, but has the loyalty to several foreign Churches.
That was where my campaign sat before I started to move things towards the river of worlds. I had hoped the setup would be ripe for political intrigue.
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Desdichado
Legend
I tend to do more or less the same thing. I'm not one of those "fantasy is all about escapism" kinda guys, but confronting gender role issues in a RPG just isn't my cuppa. Even the Middle-earth game I ran for a while had pretty good gender equality.ivocaliban said:
Then again, I'm not entirely sure that the case for Tolkien's "good old boys" story, as many claim, is really all that ironclad anyway. Galadriel was clearly just about anyone's equal in the entire setting, and Eowyn was one of the more interesting characters he wrote, and following her introduction, she got a fair amount of "screen time."
But that's a bit of a tangent, so I won't go too far down that road.
Teflon Billy
Explorer
Mostly the females in my game world are Wives (Duchesses, Countesses, Ladies) Daughters (Princesses, Maids), Barmaids, or Whores.
They tend to be well represented in the Clergy of Gods woth domains such as Childbirth, Family and suchlike.
They are about as common as any other wizard (not common).
For the most part, they fill a lower rung in the society than men.
They tend to be well represented in the Clergy of Gods woth domains such as Childbirth, Family and suchlike.
They are about as common as any other wizard (not common).
For the most part, they fill a lower rung in the society than men.
